Fire Under the Bridge
by NotCras
Summary: Little orphan Rokoh has grown up on the streets for as long as he could remember. He has no one, until a mysterious stranger with firebending and chi blocking abilities saves him from a terrible situation. What happens next changes both their lives forever. Restart and reimagining of my unifinished Flickering Flame story.


_So hungry._ Rokoh looked at all the stalls and shops in the Omashu market and grabbed his stomach. _Why does it all have to smell so good?_ He looked at the food on display and couldn't help his mouth from watering.

_All food smells so good when you eat garbage._

His stomach grumbled and Rokoh inspected the stalls. _But I'm not going to eat garbage today._ His face put on a mischievous smile as he plotted for a way to get some food.

Down the way he could see a truck making its way through the sea of people in the market.  
_It's a small wonder why it hasn't hit anyone yet._ Rokoh's smile got even bigger as he had just thought of a plan.

* * *

It was a busy day for Tomsuiro, a driver for the Omashu transportation company. He had a lot of deliveries to make and not enough time to do them all. Instead of taking the roundabout way of going down a level, Tomsuiro decided that he would take a risk and go through the crowded market streets.

He whistled to himself and turned up the radio over the chatter of people walking around. Occasionally he would honk to alert the more _focused_ people to his existence.  
_It's a wonder that I haven't hit anyone yet. _He adjusted one of his mirrors, briefly taking his eye of the road.

**THUNK!**

Tomsuiro quickly hit the brakes and hopped out of the truck to see what he had hit.

_Spirits, there goes my chance at employee of the month._

A young boy lay next to the front left wheel. His hair was black like ash and he wore rags. Tomsuiro sighed. _At least no one will care about this one._ He was crying and began to attract the attention of the crowd. People started yelling for a healer in the crowds.

Tomsuiro quickly knelt next to the boy. "Are you alright boy?" Upon closer inspection he saw that the boy clutched his leg in pain. Even without the company first aid course, he could tell that things were bad. "Where did I... umm... hit you?"

With a shaking hand the boy patted his leg gently.

"Can you move it?"

The boy merely shook his head.

_So I just crippled an orphan... Spirits be praised! _

"Don't worry, I'll get a healer for you." Tomsuiro got up quickly and desperately looked around for some help. No healer was coming forward from the crowd like Tomsuiro hoped. _Why does it always have to be hard? _

The kid weakly tugged at his shirt. "Food." The child managed to let out. "Food please."  
_Food is much easier to get._ Tomsuiro reasoned. "Food! Yes I will get you food!" He ran off to the nearest stall to get the food, not having time to think about how pointless it was to give someone food to help them immediately heal an injury.

* * *

Rokoh was having a really hard time keeping up his act and not laugh. _How stupid can this guy be? Getting food when I am lying here seriously in need of a healer?_  
He couldn't blame the man however. In the countless times that he has done this trick, everyone is too stricken with what happened to question things.

The man had come back with his some bread and began to feed it into Rokoh's mouth. He couldn't help but smile at the royal treatment he was getting.

_This bread tastes as good as it smells!_

Rokoh had even more trouble keeping the act up as he desperately fought a smile.

* * *

_Where's a healer? Where's a healer?_

Tomsuiro panicked as he fed some food into the orphan boy's mouth.

"Excuse me sir, a moment please."

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Tomsuiro looked behind him to see a strong and burly shopkeeper behind. Tomsuiro gulped. _What would this man want with me?_

The man brought his mouth close to Tomsuiro's ear. "The boy is a fake." He whispered. "He pulled this same trick on me once."

Tomsuiro couldn't believe it. _I just got played._ He looked to the boy who was still trying to play his act. Panic was replaced with anger.

_How much time have I lost helping this boy when I have errands to do!?_  
The boy recognized the look but before he could do anything he was grabbed by the shopkeeper. People in the crowd gasped.

"This orphan boy is a fraud!" The man yelled out to the crowd. "Just last week he did this to me, and stole a good amount of my eggs!"

Again the crowd gasped at this turn of events. The boy began to squirm, abandoning his act altogether.

_That boy ruined my day._

Angrily Tomsuiro stood up next to the shopkeeper. "He tried to get food from me!" He yelled. "And now I can't make all my deliveries I had today!"

The shopkeeper nodded. "And what do we do when our children steal things? We make them give it back."

There was a shout from the crowd as they agreed. The shopkeeper flipped the boy upside down and began to shake him up and down.

"You didn't pay for that food!" Tomsuiro yelled. "I want it back!"

The boy's face began to turn green. "Please sir, stop!"

_I stopped when I thought I had hit you with my truck._ Tomsuiro countered.

The boy let loose one puke. Green bile with bread chunks hit the ground. The boy fought to keep the rest in. There were squeals of disgust from the crowd.

"STOP!"

Everyone froze as someone fought through the crowd to reach the scene. A man that looked in his 20s or late teens confronted them. He had jet black hair and his eyes were bronze. He wore common clothes, not an intimidating sight, but his voice commanded a second look.

"Leave that boy alone." He spoke, his tone hinting strongly at what he might do if they didn't.

The shopkeeper stopped shaking the boy and laughed. "This is none of your business. This kid had been swindling and cheating us for a while now."

"He made me think I had hit him!" Tomsuiro added.

The man did not back down. "He's an orphan boy. Maybe if you had been kind enough to give the kid a little charity he wouldn't have to do this!"

"I can't just give out my food to little orphan boys, I have to make a living!" The shopkeeper answered. "Now just walk away before things get serious."

_Yes, just walk away._

"Put the boy down." The challenger did not waver.

With a stomp the shopkeeper summoned a mound of the earth to float next to him. "This is your last chance."

"And it's yours as well."

The shopkeeper thrust the boy into Tomsuiro's arms. "Hold him for me." Then the shopkeeper rolled up his sleeves and stomped the ground. A chunk of earth levitated in front of him on command. With a grunt the shopkeeper sent the earth flying at the man.

A thin stream of fire cut the rock like a knife. The man leapt between the two halves and closed the distance between the two. The shopkeeper began to throw more mounds of earth. With great agility the man dodged the projectiles, coming up along the man's side. With pinpoint precision the man attacked crucial waypoints of chi. The shopkeeper's arm dropped uselessly to the side.

The crowd gasped at what the man had done. Such an art had been made infamous from recent events.

_The man's a chi blocker._ Tomsuiro felt panic set in again.

The man quickly dispatched the shopkeeper and began to make his way to Tomsuiro.

Tomsuiro quickly dropped the kid and backed away. "He's yours! He's yours!" He ran to the safety of his truck and cowered.

He watched the man pick the boy up and walk away from the scene.

_This is the last time I drive through the market district._ Tomsuiro turned his truck on and went back to driving through the crowds.

* * *

Rokoh couldn't believe what had happened. _Someone had saved me for once._ He thought of how he could possibly thank the man for getting him out of such a hairy situation.

Before he could do anything of the sort, the man dropped him on the ground in an alleyway.  
"Are you stupid?" He let out. "You could have gotten yourself really hurt, or _worse_."

_Not like it matters to anyone though._ The man kept on with his lecture.

"You should know that once you fool people in one place, you don't do it in the same place again!"

Rokoh looked away in shame as if he were a pupil that had upset his master. Some bread landed in the very spot he had been looking at.

Rokoh looked up again to see the man walking away. _Why had he given me that lecture?_ Rokoh couldn't think of a reason why, unless... _That man had been an orphan boy too._

"Excuse me sir!" Rokoh ran in the direction that the man had left. He followed the alleyway until he reached the crowds of the market again. The man was nowhere in sight. Rokoh sighed and made his way back into the alleyway. He went back to the bread and began to eat it, wondering what else he would do that day.


End file.
